Hugh Laurie: Speaking like a Yank isn't easy

[worlok]

<a href="http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20060821/D8JKTFO00.html">
Hugh Laurie Plays U.S. Doctor on `House'</a>

[Steve264]

I sat with an American friend one time and discussed something similar. She wrote down a list of words that rhymed with "Ferrari" as an experiment - it included "Marry" and "Mary" among others, which do not rhyme in most English pronunciations (but do in Scotland, interestingly).

That plus the fact that US intonation is not necessarily related to the sense of the sentence being spoken - in many cases, particularly with young people and even more so with Californian young people, every sentence has the same cadence and intonation, regardless of its meaning. To English ears, anyway.

The funny thing is, the moment I land on US soil I start slipping into a (doubtless poor) American voice, quite embarrassingly sometimes. I'm just a Yankophile.

:)

[worlok]

I can't attempt another accent b/c I just sound stupid. :lol: Sure, one can blurt out the odd word with an exaggerated cockney accent, but you guys would know it was a fake. ;-)

I've watched Hugh Laurie in Blackadder and Fry & Laurie, so I am of course very familiar with him from that. When I first saw him in this US TV doctor program I was struck by how well he does a US accent. As someone here pointed out (I think it was Ron Jr) if you didn't know about Hugh Laurie you'd never guess that he was really a Brit. ...and even though I don't watch that show, the few times I have seen him playing that part he is really good. He's got that "I am a shit" sarcastic dickhead routine down pat b/c that is the character he plays. :lol:

[Grath]

A good part of the actors from Band of Brothers were Brits. I didn't know this when it originally aired because they all did a fine job, but when the DVD set came out I was surprised by all the accents in the behind the scenes stuff.

[Dave E]

A good part of the actors from Band of Brothers were Brits. I didn't know this when it originally aired because they all did a fine job, but when the DVD set came out I was surprised by all the accents in the behind the scenes stuff.

Likewise, I was surprised by that! I came across the guy who played Winters in some costume drama recently and was really thrown by him not talking in an American accent.

[swanbourne]

What about Higgins in Magnum PI? More British than the Brits.

Eddie

[rfrazier]

Which American accent? ;)

I haven't acquired a BBC accent (I can't even "do" one). Nor have I quite retained my US accent. One thing that I have learned, however, is that in England a little bit of drawl goes a long way.

Best wishes,
Bob

[Griff]

Michael Caine's American accent is pitiful and made me squirm with embarrassment

[Steve264]

Michael Caine's American accent is pitiful and made me squirm with embarrassment

Michael Caine's ENGLISH accent is pitiful and made me squirm with embarrassment :lol:

[Ron Jr]

My name is Michael Caine.

[Griswold]

You were only supposed to blow the bloody door off. :roll:

[Julian]

Michael Caine's American accent is pitiful and made me squirm with embarrassment

Michael Caine's ENGLISH accent is pitiful and made me squirm with embarrassment :lol:

No' a lo' of peepooo know dat.

[worlok]

I'm curious what do you guys think of Mike Myer's Austin Powers accent? He does the English for AP, the Scottish for Fat Bastard, and even the "freaky deeky Dutch" one for Goldmember. :lol:

I believe that although a Canadian by birth that his parents were British immigrants to Canada.

[A.Pottinger]

He he he hey, groovy bbaybie, Groovy!

No.

To me he sounds like a man licking his lips with ants in his pants.

Marbles, no. Garbled, possibly.

Pottinger :)

[Eccles]

Sorry Julian, that was Peter Sellers impersonating Michael Caine.
Regards, Jon.

[Julian]

Ah yes of course Jon .Was it when he answered MC's telephone ?

[Steve264]

I'm curious what do you guys think of Mike Myer's Austin Powers accent? He does the English for AP, the Scottish for Fat Bastard, and even the "freaky deeky Dutch" one for Goldmember. :lol:

I believe that although a Canadian by birth that his parents were British immigrants to Canada.

Embarrassing, I'm afraid, Tom. And I could never understand why the dumb pseudo-Scots accent for Shrek - it spoiled two fine movies for me.

[worlok]

Okay, speaking about BAD accents. Has anyone seen Deuce Bigalow:European Gigolo?

In that there is some comedian playing a Scotch gigolo doing a Scottish accent and you can hardly understand him. ;-)

[mindbender]

A good part of the actors from Band of Brothers were Brits. I didn't know this when it originally aired because they all did a fine job, but when the DVD set came out I was surprised by all the accents in the behind the scenes stuff.

Same thing with SciFi's Battlestar Gallactica. I was shocked when I heard Jamie Bamber, who plays Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama, in the behind-the-scenes interviews. He's a Brit. He also played the Lt. that was shot at night by one of his privates as he was walking with MAJ Winters in Band of Brothers.

A lot of the actors and actresses in SciFi's series are British, but they don't always cover that up, as in Dune and Children of Dune.

I actually like the British actors a lot more in these shows. They tend to have more character than the dry American actors.

John